Don’t Just Leap Into Lizard Ownership

Things to Consider When Adopting and Rescuing Pet Lizards

Lizards are an extremely popular pet. Bearded dragons, Skinks, Geckos…the list goes on and on. Most commonly, parents will purchase a lizard as a pet for their children, without realizing what exactly is involved with the care of these animals. Many of these lizards then end up in rescue organizations or up for adoption.

Before You Adopt or Rescue a Lizard

There are a number of things that you need to do before you commit to adopting or rescuing a lizard for a pet. Just a few of these things are:

-Ask yourself why you want the lizard? Is it only because your child has been begging you for one, or because you truly love animals and want to provide a good home to the lizard.
-Determine whether you have the means to truly care for the lizard. Can you afford the expenses of the proper cage, food, veterinary care and time that is involved with caring for it?
-Decide what kind of lizard you want, and learn all you can about the species before you go and adopt. Each lizard species has its own special requirements, and you need to make sure that you are going to be able to meet their needs.

Once you have evaluated these things, you may decide your next step is to find the right lizard for you. When browsing through agencies that offer animal adoption, you will find an extremely large number of lizards that are in need of a good home. Many of these animals will be perfectly healthy, perfectly friendly pets that will make a great addition to your home without any trouble at all. But, it is important to keep in mind that a number of these pets are also in rescue centers for a reason. They may have behavioral issues or health problems that have caused them to be rescued, and these are issues that you must be aware of before adopting.

Questions to Ask the Adoption Agency

-Does the lizard have behavioral issues? Does it bite? Is it afraid of other animals or children?
-Are there any extensive health problems? Will the lizard require frequent trips to the vet, or daily health care?
-If you are adopting more than one lizard, what are the sexes of each lizard? Putting two males together in a cage can cause fights that may kill one of the lizards. Putting a male and female together, well, you can probably figure out the dilemma with that!

Chances are, if you are adopting the lizard from an adoption agency, they will ask you a number of questions about your ability to care for the pet. Don’t lie to them simply because you don’t want to be turned away! By answering the questions honestly the agency will be able to find a lizard that will best suit your needs, or may even recommend that you are not ready for a pet lizard. If this is the case, you should definitely reconsider your choice as to whether a lizard is right for you.

If you are adopting a lizard from a private individual that is just looking to get rid of the lizard they have, you should also not let yourself get pressured into taking an animal that is not really what you want. While it may be tempting for you to get the lizard out of the situation that it’s in, taking it from one bad situation and putting it into another is not going to help at all. Take your time, and find the lizard that is the right match for you.